Correlates and predictors of nonclinical paranoia

The British Journal of Psychiatry, 2005

2000

Mindfulness, 2019

Objectives The purpose of this article was to examine the role of mindfulness, and its facets, in predicting (Studies 1 and 2) and attenuating (Study 3) paranoia in students. Methods Study 1 used cross-sectional questionnaire-based methodology (N = 410) to examine the association between mind-fulness and paranoia whilst controlling for their shared association with anxiety and depression. Study 2 used longitudinal design to test the prospective influence of mindfulness facets on state paranoia over a 2-week period (N = 84). Study 3 used a single-blind between-group experimental design to examine the effects of 1-week self-administered mindfulness training (N = 34) versus 1-week self-administered guided visual imagery (GVI) training (N = 34) on state paranoia. Results In study 1, controlling for anxiety and depression, low levels of non-judgement were significantly associated with high levels of paranoia (p < .001). In study 2, high levels of non-judgement buffered the impact of trait paranoia on daily experiences of state paranoia, whilst statistically controlling for the influence of rumination (interaction: p = .02). In study 3, both mindfulness and GVI significantly reduced state paranoia (p < .001). Conclusion Findings highlight the importance of mindfulness, and non-judgement specifically, in understanding paranoia in students and provide further evidence for mindfulness and relaxation as effective methods for reducing paranoia. Across studies, participants were predominantly white female students. Findings cannot, therefore, be assumed to generalise to other populations.

The British Journal of Psychiatry, 2013

Paranoid ideation is characteristic of psychotic illness, but, like other psychotic phenomena, may be widespread in non-clinical populations. [1] Wariness of the intentions of others may be adaptive in some situations, and becomes a clinical problem only when it is excessive, exaggerated or distressing, or interferes with functioning. Given that such ideation may precede delusion formation, 6,7 our understanding of delusions should be enhanced by studying paranoid thinking in non-clinical populations. In our cognitive model of persecutory delusions, 8 we hypothesised that even severe paranoia builds on common emotional concerns, particularly themes of interpersonal worry or social anxiety. The interpersonal sensitivities often seen in emotional disorders (e.g. concerns about rejection or about being vulnerable) inform worries about future threat and the intention of others. In some people, these fears lead to ideas that others are watching or talking about them. Ideas of persecution are hypothesised to emerge from these ideas of reference. This process implies a close structured relationship between worry, anxiety and paranoia. It has credence, as all concern the theme of the anticipation of threat, 9 and there is increasing empirical evidence for links between affect and paranoia. The current investigation employs data from a general population survey to examine the distribution and underlying structure of components of paranoid ideation. Our analyses were driven by the hypothesis that the overall distribution of such ideation should be similar in form to that of affective symptoms, with many people having few such thoughts and a few people having many. 3,16,17 Moreover, as with affective symptoms, increasing symptom counts should be characterised by the recruitment of rarer and odder ideas: 18 in other words, a hierarchy of paranoid thoughts underpins an inherent structure within the continuum. In our cognitive model of paranoia, 8 we postulated four subcategories of paranoid experience: interpersonal sensitivities; mistrust; ideas of reference; and ideas of persecution. Moreover, we postulate that this structure arises because the subcategories are linked as part of a hierarchical process. Members of the general population would be classifiable in terms of these factors, and the resulting classification would correspondingly reflect hierarchical relationships between the factors.

2011

Background. Paranoia is an unregarded but pervasive attribute of human populations. In this study we carried out the most comprehensive investigation so far of the demographic, economic, social and clinical correlates of selfreported paranoia in the general population. Method. Data weighted to be nationally representative were analysed from the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey in England (APMS 2007 ; n=7281). Results. The prevalence of paranoid thinking in the previous year ranged from 18.6 % reporting that people were against them, to 1.8 % reporting potential plots to cause them serious harm. At all levels, paranoia was associated with youth, lower intellectual functioning, being single, poverty, poor physical health, poor social functioning, less perceived social support, stress at work, less social cohesion, less calmness, less happiness, suicidal ideation, a great range of other psychiatric symptoms (including anxiety, worry, phobias, post-traumatic stress and insomnia), cannabis use, problem drinking and increased use of treatment and services. Conclusions. Overall, the results indicate that paranoia has the widest of implications for health, emotional wellbeing, social functioning and social inclusion. Some of these concomitants may contribute to the emergence of paranoid thinking, while others may result from it.

Asian Journal of Humanities and Social Studies, 2014

Paranoid beliefs, though key to the diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia, are not exclusively seen in patients suffering from this psychopathology and exist in less severe forms across different populations. Evaluating these symptoms as a continuum may be more interesting for the understanding of paranoia rather than the dichotomous approach to this kind of ideation. The main goal of the current research is to assess how paranoid beliefs are present across different populations. Using the Portuguese versions of the General Paranoia Scale and the Paranoia checklist, we compared the endorsement of paranoid beliefs in 187 subjects (64 healthy controls from the general population, 32 relatives from schizophrenia patients, 30 patients in remission and 61 patients with acute schizophrenia symptoms). The results show that paranoia is present throughout the population, from non-clinical forms to more severe clinical samples, demonstrating a continuum of increased frequency and intensity until it reaches a delusional level. Environmental factors in the endorsement of such beliefs are also discussed.

Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 2005

This study reports the development of a self-report measure to assess metacognitive beliefs about paranoia in non-patients. We aimed to test the specific hypotheses that positive beliefs about paranoia would predict frequency of paranoia, and that negative beliefs about paranoia would predict distress associated with delusional ideation. Three-hundred and seventeen non-patient participants were asked to complete questionnaires assessing beliefs about paranoia, paranoia, dimensions of delusional ideation and trait anxiety. The results showed that four empirically distinct subscales were measured by the beliefs about paranoia scale (negative beliefs about paranoia, beliefs about paranoia as a survival strategy, general positive beliefs and normalising beliefs). The scales possessed acceptable internal consistency and were associated with the measures of paranoia, delusional ideation and anxiety. Consistent with predictions, it was found that beliefs about paranoia as a survival strate...

Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 2009

Background: Recent work in the area of cognition and emotion has focused on the process as well as the content of thought. Metacognitive approaches have included studies of people's relationship with internal experience (cf. Teasdale and Barnard, 1993), and the overarching beliefs that guide allocation of internal resources to manage distress (cf. Wells, 2000). At the same time, cognitive models of psychosis have emphasized the clinical value of a multidimensional understanding of paranoia (Chadwick, 2006; Freeman and Garety, 2004b). Method: This study examined paranoia in a non-clinical group, specifically (i) the relationship between a single measure of trait paranoia and dimensions of paranoid thought frequency, belief conviction and distress, and (ii) the metacognitive strategies that people use. It was predicted that trait paranoia would be associated with (i) dimensions of thought frequency, belief conviction and distress, and (ii) the internal strategies of "punishment" and "worry." Results: Regression analyses showed that trait paranoia uniquely predicted frequency, conviction and distress associated with paranoid thoughts. Trait paranoia accounted for the use of "reappraisal", whereas "punishment" and "worry" were accounted for by anxiety. Conclusions: The implications for clinical work and further research are discussed.

Clinical Schizophrenia & Related Psychoses, 2014

Background: Paranoia is a disruptive belief that can vary across a continuum, ranging from persecutory delusions presented in clinical settings to paranoid cognitions that are highly prevalent in the general population. The literature suggests that paranoid thoughts derive from the activation of a paranoid schema or information processing biases that can be sensitive to socially ambiguous stimuli and influence the processing of threatening situations. Method: Four groups (Schizophrenic participants in active psychotic phases, n=6; stable participants in remission, n=30; participants' relatives, n=32; and healthy controls, n=64) were assessed with self-report questionnaires to determine how the reactions to paranoia of clinical patients differ from healthy individuals. Cognitive, emotional and behavioral dimensions of their reactions to these paranoid thoughts were examined. Results: Paranoid individuals were present in all groups. Most participants referred the rejection by others as an important trigger of paranoid ideations, while active psychotic were unable to identify triggering situations to their thoughts and reactions. This may be determinant to the different reactions and the different degree of invalidation caused by paranoid thoughts observed across groups. Conclusion: Clinical and non-clinical expressions of paranoid ideations differ in terms of their cognitive, emotional and behavioral components. It is suggested that, in socially ambiguous situations, paranoid participants (presenting lower thresholds of paranoid schema activation) lose the opportunity to disconfirm their paranoid beliefs by resourcing to more maladaptive coping strategies. Consequently, by dwelling on these thoughts, the amount of time spent thinking about their condition and the disability related to the disease increases.

Cognition & Emotion, 2013